LAHORE: Concerns have arisen within Punjab Police circles after a Punjab Assembly committee on law reform delegated legislation summoned senior police officials, including the Sheikhpura RPO and Kasur DPO, following the DPO’s imposition of major penalties on three officers accused of altering the additional (zimni) report and declaring two suspects innocent in an attempted‑murder case.
Punjab Additional IG Investigation Shahzada Sultan, Sheikhpura RPO Athar Ismail, and Kasur DPO Aftab Phulwarwan appeared before the assembly on Saturday and joined the proceedings of the parliamentary committee set up by Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan.
The senior officers were also required to produce crime‑statistics records and outline measures taken to improve law and order in Kasur district. This marks the second such summons in a few weeks, after DPO Hafizabad Kamran Hamid was transferred for confronting the son of a local MPA.
A senior official said the three officers were summoned to the speaker’s chamber to explain the strict action taken by Kasur DPO Aftab Phularwan against a DSP, an SHO, and an investigation officer who were alleged to have favoured two accused persons.
Kasur DPO had punished three police officials for making changes in the zimni report in an attempted murder case on alleged political pressure
He claimed the SHO and IO had favoured two of the four accused, Zain and Aqib, by altering the zimni report on orders from the concerned DSP. It was alleged that the City Circle DSP summoned the junior officers to his office and pressured them ‘to satisfy a key political figure’.
The official said the DPO intervened after the FIR complainant, Mohammad Irfan, appeared before him in an open Kacheri a couple of weeks earlier. Irfan told the DPO that the DSP had favoured the two nominated accused to please a key political figure, despite the suspects having been declared guilty in the attempted‑murder case filed at Khuddyan Police Station.
In the armed attack, Irfan stated the suspects shot and injured Ghulam Rasool and Ashfaq. He said the revised zimni reports were drafted at a dera, a practice that should be condemned and investigated impartially.
Following the complaint, the DPO convened a high‑powered board under the Kasur SP investigation’s supervision, adding two legal DSPs. He later recommended departmental action against the DSP and suspension of two others, based on the inquiry report that found them guilty.
When contacted, Sheikhpura RPO Athar Ismail told Dawn that the matter was discussed in the speaker’s chamber with the provincial law minister present. He said the speaker’s main concern was the Kasur DPO’s unavailability to him and local MPAs.
“The speaker was very apologetic for summoning senior police officers to his office,” the RPO added, noting that he cited the assembly members’ constitutional right to call any government officer and initiate proceedings in the public interest.
He said Speaker Malik Ahmad complained that the Kasur DPO had reportedly issued statements during official meetings declaring that he would not tolerate SHOs or other police officials visiting private deras to decide criminal or other cases.
According to Malik Ahmad, Athar Ismail said the speaker considered the word ‘dera’ used by the DPO to describe the private residences of provincial assembly members inappropriate.
The speaker confirmed to the senior officer that the aforementioned criminal case had been discussed at the premises of his camp office in Kasur.
According to the RPO, the speaker said an elected member of the Punjab Assembly reserves the right to hear the complaints of constituents.
The speaker told the officers he had summoned the DSP, SHO, and IO involved when the accused party raised serious concerns about the investigation process.
“The speaker told the meeting he had not pressured any police official to favour the accused and wanted the investigation to be conducted on merit,” the RPO said.
During the discussion, he said he had assured the speaker that investigations would be purely merit‑based, while the DPO also promised to respond to MPAs’ calls.
To a question, he said no proceedings had been initiated regarding the issues raised in the summon notice by the committee.
“The only matter raised by the Punjab Assembly speaker in his chamber concerned the investigation of the FIR registered with the Khuddyan Police station,” Athar Ismail said. He added that the case’s investigation had been transferred to a DSP of good repute via the district standing board.
Talking to Dawn on Tuesday, Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan declined to comment on the case. However, he said the case had been taken up by a committee of the Punjab Assembly he constituted to review the law‑and‑order situation in the Sheikhpura range, with special reference to the Kasur district.
Khan said the committee’s minutes would soon be released as an official version on the Kasur matter, although the details had not been received by the time this report was filed on Wednesday.
